Alternate Day Fasting... Have you done it?

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buglesalmoncatgirl
buglesalmoncatgirl Posts: 43 Member
edited March 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello.

Have you heard of this style of eating? The book I read a few years ago is called "The Every Other Day Diet" (Krista Varady). There are other publications out there that teach the same concept: eat about 500 calories a few days a week (every other day per the book I read, but there are some methods that require only 2 days of this) while eating somewhat freely the rest of the time.

I know, I know. This sounds unconventional. However, I have found a fair bit of people claiming it works well for them. It's said to be highly effective for weight loss as well as improving general health, and many find it more achievable than traditional daily dieting.

Have you tried it? Are you doing it now? What version (5:2, EOD, UDDD...) What challenges did you encounter along the way?

Just curious!

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Replies

  • HM2206
    HM2206 Posts: 174 Member
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    I'm looking for responses on this too.

    I tried 5:2 for a while, but it was too hard. Now I am thinking of doing 6:1. For instance Sundays, when I am relatively passive to begin with. I think it's good to think of it as a cleanse-day altogether.

    When I did some fasting I was surprised that I felt pretty ok the next day. I was expecting to be extremely hungry, but it seems your body adjusts.
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Yep, I did ADF. Back when I did the plan, it wasn't well known and was definitely on the 'fringe'. Dr. James Johnson came out with his book, The Alternate Day Diet, and there were a few of us following it on a another forum-pretty sure we were the only ones lol. That's where ADF got its nickname JUDDD, for Dr. Johnson's Up Day, Down Day diet :) Then Dr. Mosley and Dr. Varady came along and took the whole thing to the main stream and made lots of money off of the concept. I know there's bad blood between Mosley and Varady, and I'm pretty sure Dr. Johsnon doesn't have warm, fuzzy feelings towards either of them lol.

    Anywhoo-

    On my 'down' days I ate between 300-500 calories, and then I alternated with 'up' days and ate around maintenance levels-usually 1,800-2,000 calories. It's super important to eat the higher calories on the 'up' days!

    It worked well for me, and I lost the extra weight with no issues. Then, during the transition period between my weight loss phase and maintenance, I did 5:2IF and then after I fully went into maintenance I switched to 16:8IF. All said and done I've been doing IF in one form or another for around 5 years now and will most likely continue to do IF for the rest of my life.

  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Yes, I do it every now and then. 5:2 is too hard for me but ADF is not. After the initial hard couple of weeks, you get into this established routine that starts to feel normal. I do 800 calories on low days and maintenance on high days for two reasons: if I don't do that I may end up undereating, and having 800 calories allows for 1 large meal or two smaller ones, so I can fit in any social outings or family meals even on fast days without problems.

    ETA: the reason 5:2 feels hard for me is that it sort of feels random where you are eating multiple days in a row then BAM! time to drop the luxury and start fasting, which made me dread fast days. ADF establishes a stable order of days for me and fast days feel like part of the program, not something I dread after being "spoiled".
  • size102b
    size102b Posts: 1,370 Member
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    I did 4:3 4 days 500 calories faster 8pm to 2pm 17 hours
    Had 1500 calories on the other 3 days I lost 5lbs week 1 = mainly water week 2 was 3lbs then nothing for 6 weeks felt no better or healthier

    I weighed measured everything and walked as exercise and did Zumba for cardio

    Didn't work for me sadly
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    size102b wrote: »
    I did 4:3 4 days 500 calories faster 8pm to 2pm 17 hours
    Had 1500 calories on the other 3 days I lost 5lbs week 1 = mainly water week 2 was 3lbs then nothing for 6 weeks felt no better or healthier

    I weighed measured everything and walked as exercise and did Zumba for cardio

    Didn't work for me sadly

    Of course you wouldn't feel healthy, 6500 calories a week is very low
  • Karen_DisneyFan
    Karen_DisneyFan Posts: 130 Member
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    I've been doing 5:2 for a couple years. I'm a v.e.r.y slow loser (insulin resistance, type 2...) but I have lost almost 40 pounds. My husband started doing it with me a few months ago - he's lost over 20 pounds so far. Once you get in a routine, it's just like anything else "diet" related and it's not hard. We normally fast on Monday & Thursday but that's what is so great about 5:2 - the flexibility! If those days don't work because of other commitments during the week, we just choose another day :) I've tried 4:3 occasionally but it doesn't seem to make me lose any faster. I've also done my two days together (B2B-back to back) depending on what's going on, but those can be a little rough.
    Good luck with whatever you decide to do!
  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
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    I tried 5:2 but just couldn't do it. I was did 500 calories two days a week and near maintenance the other days. but on the fast days I had terrible sleep and it seemed to make my hot flashes at night really worse.

    It works great for a lot of people, just didn't agree with me.
  • tbolt76
    tbolt76 Posts: 3 Member
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    Hi All,

    I'm following Krista Vardy's ADF plan now. It works great for me. I have bad habits but I am able to behave myself every other day o:) . The reason I picked this approach was not only for the weight loss but also for the other health benefits of fasting, autophagy being one of the top reasons. By fasting, even just a short time, the body begins the process of "cleaning up" damaged cells and recycling their components. It really is an amazing process! See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autophagy
  • Famof72015
    Famof72015 Posts: 393 Member
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    tbolt76 wrote: »
    Hi All,

    I'm following Krista Vardy's ADF plan now. It works great for me. I have bad habits but I am able to behave myself every other day o:) . The reason I picked this approach was not only for the weight loss but also for the other health benefits of fasting, autophagy being one of the top reasons. By fasting, even just a short time, the body begins the process of "cleaning up" damaged cells and recycling their components. It really is an amazing process! See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autophagy

    I have never heard of the 5:2.... where or how do you decide how many calories to eat?

  • Famof72015
    Famof72015 Posts: 393 Member
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    I googled. So 1667 is my maintenance calories. So 25% of that is 416.7 so should I eat that 2 days a week and eat maintenance the other 5? Or can I eat a little below maintenance maybe 1500/ day?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited March 2017
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    buglesalmoncatgirl wrote: »
    Hello.

    Have you heard of this style of eating? The book I read a few years ago is called "The Every Other Day Diet" (Krista Varady). There are other publications out there that teach the same concept: eat about 500 calories a few days a week (every other day per the book I read, but there are some methods that require only 2 days of this) while eating somewhat freely the rest of the time.

    I know, I know. This sounds unconventional. However, I have found a fair bit of people claiming it works well for them. It's said to be highly effective for weight loss as well as improving general health, and many find it more achievable than traditional daily dieting.

    Have you tried it? Are you doing it now? What version (5:2, EOD, UDDD...) What challenges did you encounter along the way?

    Just curious!

    I tried 5:2 - five days at maintenance & 2 days at 500. I wouldn't do every other day because that's just too aggressive at my current weight. Aggressive weight loss for one's current size makes it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle mass. Fasting every other day diet isn't a work around.

    As far as "improving general health"......I've only seen anecdotal evidence (good for book sales I guess). But I wouldn't put much stock in that. Maybe some day they will do actual studies.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/100058-5-2-fasting

    Maintenance calories are here: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Famof72015 wrote: »
    I googled. So 1667 is my maintenance calories. So 25% of that is 416.7 so should I eat that 2 days a week and eat maintenance the other 5? Or can I eat a little below maintenance maybe 1500/ day?

    Pretty much. This should result in a loss of about 2/3 of a pound a week, which is reasonable for your current maintenance.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    As far as "improving general health," the science is mixed on that, especially when it comes to women's health, and especially when it comes to women who are not obese and have normal insulin response already. A lot of the "benefits" cited by experts (and especially online) are based on studies in men, and women respond differently to calorie restriction - especially hormonally.
  • buglesalmoncatgirl
    buglesalmoncatgirl Posts: 43 Member
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    This is great. I think I will try it. I'm going for the EOD version, but I will definitely track calories on both the diet day (500 cal) and the feast day (I'll cap that one at 2000 cal). Wish me luck!
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
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    savithny wrote: »
    As far as "improving general health," the science is mixed on that, especially when it comes to women's health, and especially when it comes to women who are not obese and have normal insulin response already. A lot of the "benefits" cited by experts (and especially online) are based on studies in men, and women respond differently to calorie restriction - especially hormonally.

    Yep, while I'm a fan of IF I don't think it's really done anything magical for my health (at least that I can tell). It just works well with my schedule/eating style and then helps me with calorie adherence :)
  • mlsh1969
    mlsh1969 Posts: 138 Member
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    buglesalmoncatgirl wrote: »
    This is great. I think I will try it. I'm going for the EOD version, but I will definitely track calories on both the diet day (500 cal) and the feast day (I'll cap that one at 2000 cal). Wish me luck!

    I like this idea, l guess trying it for a little while wouldnt hurt
  • buglesalmoncatgirl
    buglesalmoncatgirl Posts: 43 Member
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    mlsh1969 wrote: »

    I like this idea, l guess trying it for a little while wouldnt hurt

    Thanks! Yea I'm excited. :)
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited March 2017
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    buglesalmoncatgirl wrote: »
    This is great. I think I will try it. I'm going for the EOD version, but I will definitely track calories on both the diet day (500 cal) and the feast day (I'll cap that one at 2000 cal). Wish me luck!


    Good luck! Just don't be tempted to undereat on feast days, it could backfire both psychologically and physically.

    Edit: Oops, wrong quote.
  • buglesalmoncatgirl
    buglesalmoncatgirl Posts: 43 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Thanks! Yea I'll be sure I am getting some proper food on feast day, but I will not let feast day turn into crazy-go-nuts-eat-all-the-things day. Tracking calories should keep me in check. I like the notion that it will average out to a proper deficit. (500+2000)/2=1250 calories average.

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